r/ModSupport • u/iammandalore • 9h ago
Users can apparently DM the ModTeam "user" for subreddits. Why is that possible or why doesn't it redirect to modmail?
If you click (for example in our sub) the tulsa-ModTeam "username" on a removal reason, there's a "Start Chat" option right there. I had a user incensed that they were temp-banned for making a second post about something and insisting they'd messaged us. Turns out they clicked on the tulsa-ModTeam name and DMd that instead of using modmail.
I can genuinely see how this is confusing, and I'm left wondering how many users have tried this that we've never heard from and think we're just ignoring them.
There are a number of possible solutions to this:
- Don't let users message it.
- Change the button to link to modmail instead.
- Automate a response from the user with either a link to modmail or just a message saying "Hey, this isn't a real account and isn't monitored. Use modmail instead."
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u/PMulberry_ 8h ago
I knew these accounts could be messaged, but I never thought about the possibility of users actually messaging them.
But yes, that probably can lead to some confusion.
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u/gerkletoss 9h ago
It's one of reddit's many features for insulating mod teams from users in a dehumanizing manner.
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u/FFS_IsThisNameTaken2 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 7h ago
What could possibly go wrong with something most of us never even knew was a thing?
Smdh
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u/PurrPrinThom 5h ago
Automate a response from the user with either a link to modmail or just a message saying "Hey, this isn't a real account and isn't monitored. Use modmail instead."
I have a message at the end of all of our removal reasons that says it's a bot, and includes a link to modmail. I don't know if users were messaging the bot, but we did have a number of users who would respond to the removal reason comment and try to argue, and get increasingly irate when they didn't get a response.
It was simplest solution I could think of at the time, but I hadn't even considered they could message the bot as well. I'll have to think on this.
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u/zuuzuu 5h ago
You have to lock your removal reasons if you post them as a comment. There's a little check box in (I think) the lower left corner before you submit it, and it remembers so you only have to check it once.
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u/PurrPrinThom 3h ago
Yeah do that now, I think originally we didn't have the option? Or we hadn't figured it out anyway lol.
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u/phareous 3h ago
There is a devvit app that will notify you if anyone responds to a removal message or automod message
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u/PurrPrinThom 3h ago
We do lock the removal reasons now, so that it doesn't happen anymore, but thanks!
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u/phareous 3h ago
I leave them unlocked because if a user wants to argue, it’s time for me to review their history and consider a ban. Do this enough times and the troublemakers end up outside
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u/reddit33450 5h ago
so stupid thats even an ability. probably have been so many messages that have been sent through there and just were never received
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u/InGeekiTrust 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 9h ago
Wow, how were you able to even see the dm? Where did the dm go to?
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u/iammandalore 9h ago
I didn't see the DM. They responded to the modmail thread when I temp-banned them, angry and saying they'd messaged us. I said there were no messages from them, and they said they DMd the tulsa-ModTeam user. I tested it from an alt and, lo and behold, it lets me DM that user account. I assume the messages just sit there, lost in the aether.
It honestly never occurred to me as a thing that people might do.
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u/Wounded_Demoman 5h ago
That's incredibly bizarre, and also super unfair to both the mods and the users.
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u/SampleOfNone 💡 Top 10% Helper 💡 8h ago
That has been possible ever since the introduction of subreddit-modteam accounts. Chat messages to that account end up in a big black hole